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Announcements

Announcements

Speaker Line-Up and Event Details for S+T Inaugural Convening Announced

The speaker line-up and event details for the Society + Technology at UW Inaugural Convening this Friday, Jan. 10 from 9 am to 12:30 pm at the Center for Urban Horticulture have been announced. Registration is still open—get the details here.

The event marks the launch of the new initiative and will begin with remarks from President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Tricia Serio, as Society + Technology at UW is an outgrowth of the 2021-22 President and Provost Task Force on Technology and Society. The event will feature several affiliated researchers involved in STSS, including Leah Ceccarelli, director of the STSS Graduate Certificate Program and a member of the S+T leadership team, as well as Amy Hinterberger, Chair of the Department of Bioethics and Humanities in the School of Medicine.

The kick-off will be a special opportunity to meet colleagues in person at the UW’s Center for Urban Horticulture on Union Bay, approximately 1.1 miles east of the UW Seattle campus, and includes breakfast and a light fare reception.

The event is co-sponsored by the Tech Policy Lab with support from the Office of the Provost.

It’s free to attend, however registration is required. Learn more and register.

Bonus STSS First Monday Inagurates New S+T at UW Program: Pop-Up Working Groups

In late October of 2024, a participant in the First Monday STSS Reading Group had an idea, what if the STSS reading group members got together to discuss something else, the report recently released by a UW Task Force about artificial intelligence and the university. The idea became a meeting, and the meeting became another, both led Richard Lewis, Associate Dean of University of Washington Libraries, UW Bothell & Cascadia College, and facilitated by Monika Sengul-Jones.

Now, Society + Technology at UW, a new program hosted in the Tech Policy Lab that seeks to foster cross-campus community for research and learning on the social, societal, and justice aspects of technology, is offering opportunities to propose Pop-Up Working Groups to the emerging S+T community.
Learn more about Pop-Up Working Groups, and other S+T Community Programs.

Invitation to Apply to Create A Research Cluster on STS Approaches to Genetic Research

Faculty, would you like to join or support an application for funding to do collaborative research in 2025-26 about STS approaches to genetics?

Three faculty from UW Tacoma, UW School of Medicine, and UW Bothell have begun to prepare an application for the Simpson Center’s Fall Funding Round, which is due November 15, 2024.

They’re interested in arranging an external speaker series and having a writing retreat to collaborate on an article, additional faculty interested in this topic are invited to join the cluster application.

Email mmjones@uw.edu to learn more.
 

Bonus STSS Reading Group session on AI Task Force Report

The First Monday STSS Reading Group is holding a bonus session on Wednesday, November 20 from 11:30 am to 12:20 pm to discuss the UW’s AI Task Force Report, following interest in the last reading group session. The reading group will be hosted by Richard Lewis, Associate Dean of University of Washington Libraries, UW Bothell & Cascadia College. If you’d like to attend, please email mmjones@uw.edu to be added to the invitation list.

Read the report 

The AI Task Force recently released its report with recommendations, available in narrative and slide format.

Attend (or view) the AI town halls

The Provost’s blog has links to past and future AI town halls
https://www.washington.edu/provost/2024/10/24/ai-town-hall-links/

Share your perspectives on AI at UW

On October 8, 2024, the UW President and Provost announced the publication of a report by the AI Task Force about the future of AI and the university. There are several opportunities for the university community to comment on this report and the recommendations for the adoption of AI.

Town Halls

On Oct. 24 at noon PST, the AI Task Force will host “What is AI,” the first of seven town halls that will take place online from late October through mid-December. The next session, AI for Research and Research in AI, will be on October 30. According to the Office of the Provost, each town hall will explore a different aspect of the future of AI at the UW and will include a moderated question and response session where everyone is encouraged to share their perspective. All online town halls will start at noon and end at 1:20 PM.

Survey

The AI Task Force is administering a survey to all students, faculty, and staff about the future of AI at UW. Please consider completing the survey, which is due Friday, October 25 by 5 PM PST.

Cross-posted with Society + Technology at UW

Call for Open Panels: Submit Your Proposals for 4S 2025 in Seattle by November 15, 2024

The Call for Open Panels is now open for the annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S), which will be held in Seattle from September 3-6, 2025. The conference theme is “Reverberations.”

This theme offers layered meanings, sitting at the nexus of transmission and repercussion, and spans multiple sightlines and frequencies—historical, geological, sonic, and otherwise.

The submission deadline for open panel proposals is November 15, 2024.

Learn more

“How are controversies manufactured?” Leah Ceccarelli interviewed by Society + Technology at UW

Science, Technology, and Society Studies (STSS) Director Leah Ceccarelli was featured in the first episode of Conversations with Society + Technology, an interview series about emerging technologies and their societal impact. The series features experts from the affiliate network of the new Society + Technology program at UW.

In the interview, conducted by Monika Sengul-Jones, Ceccarelli discusses the STSS program, her research on rhetoric and science, and what to make of “manufactured controversies” about science at a historical moment typified by concerns about the proliferation of “fake news,” propaganda, and misinformation using online digital technologies.

“You can’t just dismiss the fraudsters, or those who believe the fraudsters, as fools. That just feeds their anti-elitist populism that’s become such a central part of these disinformation campaigns.

Ignoring the false claims doesn’t work either, right? Because it just cedes the ground to the liars. But neither can you debate the deceivers on their own terms, because that just makes it seem like there really is a dispute over the facts. You’re really in this double bind.”

How does the moral tradition of rhetoric help us respond to deception?

Go to the Interview


Website for the Society + Technology at UW program launches

A new program, Society + Technology at UW, now has a web presence that highlights STSS.

Society + Technology at UW’s website and programming aim to showcase the tremendous work happening across UW’s campuses in the areas of society and technology. As part of this effort, Society + Technology at UW has established an Affiliates network, featuring faculty and research groups from various campuses.

Faculty involved in or engaged with STSS, STS at UW Bothell, and the field of science and technology studies at UW Tacoma are among the Affiliates.

The Affiliates network also includes research centers and technologists at UW who are using and developing emerging technologies to address complex social problems.

One way Affiliates can learn more about each other’s work is through the Conversations in Society + Technology interview series, which features discussions with experts from the Affiliate network about emerging technologies and their societal impacts.

The first conversation is an interview with STSS Director Leah Ceccarelli.

The program launched last spring as the outcome of a presidential task force led by Ryan Calo. The leadership team also includes STSS Director Leah Ceccarelli, a professor in Communication, and Monika Sengul-Jones, who co-facilitates with Ceccarelli the First Monday STSS reading group and advances STSS intellectual life through programming and content design.